Gear Girl

I've always been a bit of a "gear girl", that means if you take a road trip you bring a lot of toys...or....your GEAR. This sometimes includes ALL or some of the following: my road bike, mountain bike, wet suit, running shoes, roller blades, and boogie board, etc. This past weekend I decided to bring the roller blades (along with the wet suit, road bike, and running shoes, I used all but the wet suit), mind you I have not roller bladed in at least 5 years....if not longer. "Back in the day", when I was between the ages of 21 and 28, I used to roller blade all the time. I was pretty good too! I would think nothing of starting at the bike path in Providence and blading to Bristol and back. I didn't just do it at a leisurely pace either, just ask my friend Erin Carr...we would book it down to Bristol and then on the way back we would sprint from stop sign to stop sign. It's no wonder I was skinny as could be and could eat anything I wanted. Oh, I guess I should clarify that.....besides the rollerblading, I used to run 6 days a week, take aerobics classes three times a week and go out dancing three nights a week. (If only I had done triathlons during that part of my life....I would have been kicking butt!!) Anyway, to get back to the point of the story...I drove to Scarborough, ME to hang out with my brother and his family. Now, if you've ever been to Higgins Beach in Scarborough, Maine, you know that parking is limited...so my grand idea was to park legally, for free, two miles from the beach. I went for an hour run and then put my roller blades on to roller blade to the beach. I parked on Spurwink road, and if you have ever ridden or run on that road, you know that there is not much of a shoulder, nor is the road the smoothest surface. So being the ever confident athlete, I put my blades on and began my pursuit to the beach. "Hmmm....roller balding is not as easy as it used to be," I thought. I was also thinking about the cars going by and what they must be thinking, "That girl needs to learn how to roller blade!" I have passed many people in my day that look horrible struggling down the road on their blades and sarcastically thought, "Geez buddy....that looks like fun!" I HAVE NOW BECOME ONE OF THEM! To my horror, I got to an area on the road that had no shoulder and was riddled with pot holes and cracks all the while 4 cars in a row were headed my way. I tried to continue to roll down the road, but had no choice but to head towards the sand on the side of the road. You guessed it! From there I landed on my hands and knees in the dirt! Ha! This is coming from the former roller blade queen!! I struggled the entire way and could not believe how hard it was to go up the slightest incline! Hmmm....I guess perhaps I should have practiced a bit before I put my over confident self into my pair of roller blades. I made it to the beach with no further falls and in one piece. (After, of course stopping at the little store at the end of ocean road for a sandwich and fruit and some bragging with an older guy about how I just ran seven miles and now I'm roller blading...ha!) There seems to be pattern here...PRACTICE!!! "If I had only done some practice ocean swims, if I had only practiced roller blading." Perhaps now I have learned? Nope, I'm sure I will do something soon that requires practice, without practicing. Thick headed you say? That I am.